Tornadoes kill thousands of people around the world every year. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in 2011 there were over 1,800 tornados in the U.S. alone. Of these, approximately 60 were “killer tornadoes” responsible for over 550 deaths. The deadliest tornado in recorded U.S. history occurred in 1925 across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, leaving almost 700 people dead; another such tornado killed approximately 1,300 people in 1989 in Bangladesh.
Ordinarily, the majority of these deaths could be avoided by the use of tornado or storm shelters. Current commercially available tornado or storm shelters are composed of steel, concrete, fiberglass, or a combination thereof, and are either completely buried in the ground with an external access passage or installed within a home (e.g., a “walk-in” shelter). As the inventor hereof has recognized, however, existing shelters are bulky. They tend to take up a large amount of space in the home or yard, and can be too expensive to own and/or install. Also, commercially available shelters are typically dark, musty, damp, and prone to harboring spiders and insects, and have been known to trigger claustrophobia and other anxiety disorders.